Jose Mourinho: Individual awards should be for title winners only

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has claimed that the PFA Footballer of the Year should come from the champions’ squad, to indicate their role of a team player more than individual brilliance.

Many have felt the idea of giving somebody the award in April does not make any sense with still two months of the season to play, while voting is often cast in February.

With the title race so tight this year, Mourinho’s claims would not be able to be put in place under the current structure, something Mourinho wants altered to give a fairer reflection on the player’s importance to the season’s final results.

Luis Suarez is most people’s choice to win the PFA award this season currently. With Liverpool not even certain to finish in the top four, despite an outside chance of a title shot, there are echoes last season when Gareth Bale won the award despite Spurs finishing in fifth position.

According to the Standard, the Chelsea boss said, “Individual awards should be for winners. Last year it happened to Gareth (Bale) and not to a Manchester United player because he was more than special.

“He had a fabulous season, but normally individual awards are a consequence of collective work, a team big award, which means winning the competitions.

“If I voted, I would always vote for a player that belongs to the champions. The most pre-eminent player must win the league. What happened with Gareth was outside the way I understand football. People should try to choose one of the champions. Football is about teams, not players.

“When a player from the champions gets the award, that is normal. The biggest award is the title. They should be waiting for the champions and maybe you have to wait until the last game to do that (vote).”

Chelsea’s Eden Hazard is another front-runner for the individual award after a fine second season, while Suarez, Yaya Toure and Aaron Ramsey are also thought to be in contention for the individual honours.